Cold Email Outreach or Spam. Where is the line?

To draw the line between the cold mails & spam messages, everyone should distinguish the difference between the cold mail outreach and all the rest of possible cases that may be referred as spam. Let’s do it!

Cold outreach rules

Cold emails are those messages that are sent to the recipient without previously contacting or requesting their information. Cold emails are different from spam emails. However, if some proper procedures are not followed; cold mail can become spammed emails.

For example, bulk cold mailing is spam because it may not be in the best interest of every recipient. It will result in an impressive percentage of complaints. Therefore, most email services will simply refuse to send mailings to the cold contacts database without following serious rules.

Spam and cold mail can only have one thing in common - they are sent without the recipient's consent. If there are more violations, it is considered as spam. Let’s check how to stop email going to spam & send cold letters to subscribe a customer to a newsletter or even expand your contact base for good.

Think of Sender’s name & Subject line

It’s important: the sender's name and the subject line are the most important points. It depends on them whether the user will open your message or not. Why my email go to spam? – You put it down wrong from the start.

Format The body of the letter

The body of the letter should be to the point. Remind where your ways crossed: you were at a conference together, studied in the same course, etc. The message should answer the question for what purpose you are writing to the user, how you will be useful to him/her.

Form a Targeted action

You cannot sell in cold mail. But you can offer to have a call or meet. It is important to write the conditions yourself so that the recipients can choose what suits them. The initiative should come from you, because you started the dialogue.

Include the Unsubscribe option

The users should always have an opportunity to unsubscribe from mailings. Even those they haven’t been waiting for.

Mind the Number of letters

You can limit yourself to one. Let those who did not respond to the newsletter have another one. If you expect maximum response, prepare a chain of two messages at least. They should be unobtrusive and different so that the recipient does not think that she or he is dealing with a robot.

So, how is going your cold email be different from spam?

• • Contact source
    
    In the letter, you explain where you got the client's email from. For example, he/she left mail when registering on the site, placing an order, or signing up for a webinar, etc.

• • Sender information
    
    The newsletter must be on your behalf, for example, "Lisa from Mailigen", "Alpina.Books, etc."

• The topic
  
  It should disclose why you send the letter without any spammy words. For example, "Speaker from conference XXX", "We’ve discussed project N with you."

What kind of letters to prepare for cold outreach?

If you are writing to people for the first time, haven’t met them personally:

• • 1-5 contacts.
    
    Write the message yourself, establish contact and, as you communicate, offer to subscribe to newsletters.

• 6 or more.
  
  Use a service to send emails, such as contacts extractor. The program seeks for mails and pick only active. So you get a chance to contact the right person. Trace your mail openings and clicks. You will know for sure who no longer is an active user write and who is ready to communicate further.

If you’re emailing to people with whom you have not had a contact, but you have their consents to mail them:

• Verify addresses with the help of reliable emails verification solution & conduct your campaign.
  
  Remove those who did not respond to the newsletter for the previous time from the contact database and send them to the list for retargeting. They will do later.
  
  If you’re writing to existing clients you already know personally, who did not subscribe to the newsletter. How’s that?
  
  This often happens in B2B: you have been communicating with a client for years, but you have never had an email campaign with them. It is logical that you did not ask for any permission to receive any messages from you in the past - there was no need. As a result, your warm customer base turns into an ice block for email newsletter campaigns. What to do?
• Resubscribe them
  
  Controversially, but you may ask our most loyal clients to subscribe for the first time via cold outreach. In the B2B space, most customers use corporate addresses, so you are less likely to get into spam with Gmail or any other mailbox. But this is not a reason to spam anyway, so apply the same rules as above.

Conclusion

Cold mailings are letters for users with whom you have not yet established a personal contact and asked for details or those who did not agree to receive any mailings. Depending on what you say in the first email, you will either gain the client's trust or lose them as subscribers. To succeed with your cold outreach but never get to spam, simply follow the basic rules of messaging and apply only proven and useful bulk mailer solutions to optimize your working process. Good luck!

Written by:

Ira Byvalkevich